The rapidly expanding fast food industry has presented packaging designers with ever increasing challenges to design effective packaging materials and containers for the myriad food products now available from these outlets. That the fast food consumer in a hurry is more likely to choose the "drive through" window and eat in the car rather than take the time to eat inside the restaurant has created additional demands for innovative packaging for such fast food products. Effective packaging for food products intended to be served and eaten under the conditions typically encountered by a hurried consumer who is trying to drive and eat simultaneously should ideally keep the food at an appropriate serving temperature, completely seal the food and remain sealed until the consumer is ready to eat the food, allow easy removal of the food from the packaging for consumption and provide some protection to the consumer from drips, spills and the like. The packaging currently used for fast food products falls significantly short of these objectives.
At the present, the sandwiches served in fast food restaurants are typically sold in one of two primary types of packaging. One of these widely used packaging materials is a sheet of a waxed or coated paper or a paper and foil laminate that is wrapped and folded around the sandwich to cover it. If wrapped and folded tightly enough, this kind of sandwich packaging will be somewhat effective in keeping the sandwich at an appropriate serving temperature. Even when it is very tightly wrapped, this type of packaging tends to come open more easily than it should and, therefore, does not have the insulation value it should. To obtain access to the sandwich if the sheet is tightly wrapped, the consumer must unwrap and unfold the sheet, which usually requires two hands. If the consumer wishes to use the wrapping to protect his or her hands or clothing from drips or spills, the wrapping must be refolded around the sandwich so that it covers only the portion of the sandwich held in the hands. Such maneuvers cannot be performed easily in a stopped or in a moving vehicle.
The other type of food packaging most commonly used for fast food sandwiches is a rigid paperboard or foam "clam shell" type container that has a lid hinged and temporarily secured to a food-receiving bottom portion. This type of food packaging usually may be opened easily with one hand to provide access to the sandwich inside and does not always remain completely closed. However, this packaging cannot be used to enclose only that part of the sandwich held by the consumer's hand to provide protection from drips, food residues and the like while the sandwich is being eaten. A paperboard clam shell container, moreover, provides little or no insulation for the food.
Many other types of food packaging materials and containers are known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,911 to Prohaska and U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,553 to Ferrero, for example, disclose flexible food packages which completely enclose the food products packaged therein and can be torn to open them so that port of the package can be left around the food. Neither of these packages, however, are particularly suitable for use in packaging food products at a fast food restaurant. Neither provides the kind of insulation or moisture barrier desired for the fast food trade. In addition, both require more complicated wrapping and sealing procedures than could be easily performed in a fast food restaurant environment. The packaging of U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,911, moreover, is stated to be useful primarily for foods having a long storage life, while the packaging of U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,553 has a configuration that limits it to foods that have a substantially rectangular shape, such as the piece of cake shown and described in connection with the packaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,597 to Topolski discloses an easily opened flexible package for food products that includes a perforated tear strip that is pulled to open the package and provide access to the food packaged therein. This particular package, which is disclosed to be made of cellophane or the like and to be useful primarily for packaging delicatessen products, is not especially suitable for fast food packaging applications. It does not provide adequate insulation for the food inside, and the food cannot be packaged and sealed easily by fast food restaurant personnel.
The prior art, therefore, fails to disclose flexible packaging for food products that may be easily applied to sandwiches and the like in a typical fast food restaurant environment which remains sealed to keep the food at proper serving temperature until opened by the consumer, and which may be opened easily by the consumer to provide access to at least a portion of the food while providing a covering for another portion of the food to protect the consumer from drips, spills and the like.